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Hungarian President Orban urges Ukrainian President Zelensky to consider ceasefire with Russia

Posted on by angelo
Hungarian President Orban urges Ukrainian President Zelensky to consider ceasefire with Russia

Welcome to World Brief, where we examine the tensions Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, the The Netherlands“First far-right government and a deadly stampede India.

Welcome to World Brief, where we examine the tensions Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, the The Netherlands“First far-right government and a deadly stampede India.

Reorganize priorities

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban began his six-month presidency of the European Union Council of Ministers on Tuesday with a trip to Ukraine. “The aim of the Hungarian presidency is to contribute to solving the challenges facing the European Union. That is why my first trip was to kyiv,” he wrote on Facebook.

This was Orban’s first trip to Ukraine in more than a decade. During his visit, he said he supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace proposal, which was previously discussed at a peace summit in Switzerland in May. However, Orban urged Zelensky to consider calling a truce before starting peace negotiations rather than waiting until the talks are over, saying that “a ceasefire with a deadline would give a chance to speed up the peace talks.”

The ongoing war is “the most important problem for Europe,” Orban told Zelensky.

Zelensky’s initial proposal rejects any cessation of hostilities while Russian troops occupy Ukrainian soil, arguing that such a concession would give Moscow the opportunity to rearm and redouble its attacks. In recent weeks, Russia has waged a massive offensive against eastern Ukraine, and on Monday, Ukrainian security services said they had foiled a coup attempt by an unnamed anti-Ukrainian group that allegedly “played into Russia’s hands” by sparking a riot in Kiev to distract from efforts to seize parliament.

Orban and Zelensky also discussed improving bilateral cooperation on Tuesday. Orban said Budapest wanted to help modernize kyiv’s economy, and Zelensky announced Hungary would open a Ukrainian-language school for refugees living there.

Tensions between the two Eastern European countries remain high. Budapest has repeatedly accused kyiv of violating the rights of about 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia region. Hungary points to a 2017 Ukrainian law that requires all schools to teach students over the age of 10 in Ukrainian, which Budapest sees as a violation of the ethnic minority’s rights. Kiev denies the allegations but has said it is open to discussion.

Orban remains a longtime supporter of Moscow and is the only European leader to have met Russian President Vladimir Putin since the war began in February 2022. Budapest keeps diplomatic channels with Moscow open and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has made at least five trips to Russia in the past two years, most recently to an economic forum in St. Petersburg last month. Hungary does not allow Western weapons donated to Ukraine to be transported across the two countries’ shared border and continues to oppose EU sanctions against Russia.

Yet Ukraine needs Hungary’s help, because the EU needs unanimous agreement to approve financial and military support for kyiv. Orban walked out of the voting room last December to refrain from launching Ukraine’s accession process. And last week, the EU formally began accession negotiations with kyiv in Brussels.

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The European far right. The Netherlands swore in its first far-right government Tuesday after nearly 14 years under centrist Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The right-wing Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders won the largest share of votes in Dutch elections last November, largely on the strength of its anti-immigrant and pro-Russia platform. Former intelligence chief Dick Schoof will likely take over as prime minister; he has no political affiliation and no political experience. Rutte will become NATO’s next secretary-general later this year.

France also faces a far-right problem. On Tuesday, more than 200 opponents of the National Rally (RN) party withdrew from the second round of early legislative elections scheduled for Sunday. They hope that by withdrawing their candidacies, they can better unify their voter blocs to block the National Rally’s expected victory. The RN is expected to come within a whisker of winning a majority in parliament in the first round of elections on Sunday, and on Tuesday, far-right figure Marine Le Pen said the party would only lead the government if it had an absolute majority or close to it.

Fatal crush. More than 115 people were killed Tuesday in a stampede at a Hindu religious event in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Local authorities believe heat and overcrowding may have been to blame for the stampede, which killed mostly women and children. Others say people crowded into a narrow exit when a dust storm swept through the city. The tent where the event was held was licensed to hold 5,000 people, but early reports suggest the crowd may have been larger.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government is “engaged in relief and rescue operations.” Yet some lawmakers have been quick to blame state and federal governments for their failure to manage crowds. “Every year, these kinds of incidents keep happening without us learning any lessons,” said Indian parliamentarian Manoj Kumar Jha. In 2016, a stampede killed at least 24 people at a Hindu religious ceremony, and in 2013, more than 100 people were killed at a Hindu religious procession.

Protests in Kenya. Riot police detained protesters in Nairobi and across Kenya on Tuesday in the largest demonstrations since deadly clashes erupted last week. Authorities fired tear gas canisters and charged into crowds brandishing wooden batons. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported that 39 Kenyans have been killed in protests and clashes with police since June 18.

Protesters on Tuesday called for the resignation of Kenyan President William Ruto, who had agreed to some of the protesters’ key demands. On Wednesday, Ruto agreed not to approve a controversial finance bill that would have raised taxes on several goods and services in an attempt to ease the country’s debt crisis. Ruto announced on Sunday that Nairobi would have to borrow more money to keep the government running.

Tips

Bostonians looking for new ways to bring a little joy and lightness into their lives took to the streets in late April with a simple demand. And last Wednesday, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority answered that demand by adding googly eyes to five of the city’s T trains. “We firmly believe that eyes are the windows to the soul, and the soul of a city is its transit system. So we tried to connect those dots and give all T riders a fun new way to emotionally connect with such a vital part of the city,” march co-organizer Arielle Lok told NPR.